
Qass. 



1-^ 



Book T' ''' -T 




PROCEEDINGS 



UNION LEAGUE OF PHILADELPHIA, 



REO^RDIMO 



THE ASSASSINATION 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 



PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 



PHILADELPHIA: 
HENRY B. ASHMEAD, BOOK AND JOB PRINTER, 

Nos. 1102 AND 1104 Sansom Strkbt. 
1865. 



PROCEEDINGS 



UNION LEAGUE OF PHILADELPHIA, 



HEGARDIXG 



THE ASSASSINATION 



ABEAHAM LINCOLN, 

PRESIDENT or THE UNITED STATES. 




PHILADELPHIA : 

HENRY B. ASHMEAD, BOOK AND JOB PRINTER, 
Nos. 1102 AND 1104 Sans»m Street. 

1865. 



■ SI 



PROCEEDINGS 



MEETING OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS. 

At a Special Meeting of the Board op Directors of the 
Union League op Philadelphia, held April 15, 1865, im- 
mediately after information had been received of the murder 
of the President of the United States, Mr. J. Gillingham 
Fell, President, called the meeting to order in the following 
terms : 

Gentlemen : — I have called you together for the purpose 
of announcing officially the awful calamity which has befallen 
the nation in the assassination of its Chief Magistrate. At 
this critical period, when we have so much need of his ability, 
disciplined judgment and patriotism, w^e are overwhelmed by 
the suddenness and terrible circumstances of his death. We 
stand in wonder at the Providence of God, and are made to 
know that his ways are not our ways. As the mind reverts 
to his dealings with his people in times past, its thoughts fall 
naturally upon the history of the great leader of Israel who, 
after conducting his children through their protracted perils, 
breathed his last on the brink of the Promised Land. We 
mourn our leader \Yith as sincere a sorrow ; but wo know that 



the same God who sustained the Hebrews still lives, and has 
placed in the hands of our people the preservation of a great 
nation. Therefore while we bow our heads in deep submis- 
sion, let us address ourselves with energy to the responsibili- 
ties thus suddenly thrust upon us. To maintain order, 
obedience to the laws and respect for the constituted authori- 
ties is the immediate duty of every citizen. 

On motion of Mr. Morton McMichael, the following Pre- 
amble and Kesolutions were unanimously adopted : 

Whereas, It has pleased Almighty God, in his inscrutable 
wisdom, to permit our beloved Chief Magistrate, Abraham 
Lincoln, to be removed by the hands of an assassin from the 
sphere of duty which he filled with so much honor to himself 
and so much profit to the nation ; and, 

Whei^eas, by this catastrophe the administration of the 
National Government has suddenly and most unexpectedly 
devolved on Andrew Johnson, the chosen Vice-President of 
the people ; and, 

WJiereas, This Board feel, in this first hour since the know- 
ledge of this great change has reached it, the importance of 
conveying to the new President assurances of the aid which 
the body it represents, in common with all loyal citizens, 
will render him in his trying situation ; therefore be it 

Resolved. That the Union League of Philadelphia have 
the highest confidence in the patriotism, integrity and ability 
of Andrew Johnson, now by the providence of God, President 
of the United States, and will give to him in the discharge of 
the vast responsibilities devolved upon him, the same zealous 
support which it has always given to his lamented prede- 
cessor. 

Resolved. That the Secretary be requested to transmit to 
the President of the United States the Gold Medal of the 
League, as a proof of its esteem for his merits as a citizen, 
and its recognition of his claim as the first ofiicer of the 
Ptepublic. 

On motion of Mr. Horace Binney, Jr., it was 



Resolved. That the members of the Union League be re- 
quested to assemble at Concert Hall, on Monday the 17th 
instant, at 12 M., to take such action as they may deem 
necessary in view of the awful calamity which has just befallen 
the nation. 

Resolved. That a committee of three be appointed, to pre- 
pare a series of resolutions for presentation to the meeting, 
to be held as before stated, expressive of the sense which the 
League entertains of the bereavement the country has sus- 
tained, and the duties which are now demanded of the 
citizens. 

The President appointed Messrs. Horace Binney, Jr., Wm. 

H. Ashhurst, and Charles Gibbons the committee. 

On motion adjourned. 

Geo. H. Boker, 

Secretary. 



MEETING OF THE UNION LEAGUE. 

In pursuance of a call for a Special Meeting, made by the 
Board of Directors, the members of the Union League of 
Philadelphia, assembled on Monday, April 17, 1865, at 12 m., 
at Concert Hall. 

Mr. McMichael, Vice-President, who occupied the Chair, 
opened the meeting as follows : 

Members of the Union League :— The Board of Direc- 
tors have invited your presence at this time in order that you 
may take such action in reference to the events which have 
recently startled and horrified the country, as in your judg- 
ment you shall deem most appropriate. It does not need that 



6 

I should say the occasion of your meeting is one of more than 
ordinary solemnity. Less than three short days ago our entire 
city, in common with all loyal portions of the Union, was 
jubilant and resonant, for it was stirred to its utmost depths 
by the prospect of a great deliverance. After four long and 
weary years, a war almost illimitable in the extent to which 
it had spread, and wholly unparalleled in the magnitude of its 
sacrifices and its sufferings, had, by wisdom in the cabinet and 
valor on the field, been brought so near a close that all men 
saw, and rejoiced in, the peaceful end. As was natural under 
such circumstances, the thunderous report of holiday artillery 
shook the morning air ; bonfires and illuminations lighted the 
evening sky, flags and streamers danced gaily on every 
breeze; unaccustomed hands grasped each other in mutual 
congratulation ; eyes of young and old alike beamed with 
delight, and reverent lips thrilled with grateful thanksgiving 
to Almighty God for the supreme blessing He had vouchsafed. 
Foremost among the human agencies by which the grand 
consummation was realized, all recognized the then President 
of the United States. To his sagacity, to his skill, to his 
prudence, to his firmness, to his unflinching adherence to the 
right, all agreed the final triumph was pre-eminently due, and 
ail believed that by the exercise of the same qualities, he 
would guide us safely through any new perils we might be 
called on to encounter. No wonder, therefore, that all hearts 
turned towards him with sentiments of earnest aflection ; no 
wonder that all tongues spoke of him in words ot glowing 
praise ; no wonder that wherever his name was mentioned the 
shoutings of the exultant people were loudest, and the tumultu- 
ous demonstrations of patriotic zeal most vehement and pro- 
longed. 

What a change do we witness to-day ! Gladness is converted 
into grief; the sable draperies of woe replace the gorgeous 
emblems of joy; the din of festive preparation has ceased; 
the sounds of mirth are no longer heard ; over all countenances 
there is diffused an anxious gloom, and sadness and sorrow 
sit heavily on all bosoms. For alas! alas! alas! our good, 
our true, our honest, our noble, our dearly cherished President 
is dead I dead in his prime, and has not left his peer — and 



all that was mortal of Abraham Lincoln lies stift' and cold in 
the White House at Washington, where for so long his genial 
presence, amid the darkest hours, dispensed a radiant cheer- 
fulness, and, in the most trying straits, reflected a calm content. 
My friends, among the many awful crimes for which the 
authors of this rebellion should suffer the most condign 
punishment here, and for which, unless the testimonies of 
divine retribution are false, they must make fearful expiation 
hereafter, there is none that will count against them so ter- 
ribly as the deep damnation of his taking off — the foul, base 
and brutal murder of the best citizen, as well as the highest 
officer of the Eepublic — the fiendish assassination of the gen- 
tlest and kindest being that ever administered public affairs, 
whose daily life, even under the severe pressure of the most ardu- 
ous duties and the gravest cares, was a constant illustration 
of charity and love. Already, indeed, the avenging Nemesis 
is in swift pursuit on their track. Even now while the miser- 
able wretch, whom their evil teachings and example wrought 
to the commission of the blackest of all deeds, skulks and 
shivers in dreaded anticipation of his doom; now, while the 
arch-traitor whom they lately hailed as chief, like the primal 
fratricide, is a fugitive and a vagabond on the earth ; there 
ascends unto the judgment-seat, which they made vacant, a 
sterner ruler, who has been taught by his own wrongs the 
enormity of their offending, and whose ears are open to hear 
and his sinews stretched to answer the cry of outraged human- 
ity. And who, in this crisis, shall venture to stay the up- 
lifted arm of justice ? Who, contemplating the virtues and 
the fate of Abraham Lincoln, shall ask for mercy to his slayer ? 
Who, recalling the ravaged fields, the desolated homes, the 
slaughtered inhabitants of Eastern Tennessee, can hope for 
forgiveness to the spoilers from Andrew Johnson ? 

Mr. McMichael then introduced Eev. Phillips Brooks, who 
offered the following prayer : 

Almighty God, the Sovereign Ruler and Commander of the 
World, in whose hands are power and might, which none are 
able to withstand, we look up to Thee for comfort and conso- 
lation in this dark hour of bereavement. O Lord of life and 



light, we invoke Thy presence and favor in our midst. The 
Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away, blessed be the 
name of the Lord ! Lord help us, for we are unable to help 
ourselves; we look up to Thee for strength. We thank 
Thee for the gift of such a President, we thank Thee that 
Thou didst put it into the hearts of this people to choose 
a man, so full of goodness and truth and faithfulness; of 
patience and serenity and composure ; of such wisdom to per- 
ceive the truth, and such a steadfastness to do it. We thank 
Thee for the earnestness with which he laid hold upon the 
great purposes set before him, and the calm and wise perse- 
verance with which he followed them. We thank Thee that 
his eye was permitted to see the first fruits of his labor, in the 
dawn of returning peace. W^e thank Thee that as we stand 
by the grave of so great a President, we can feel that he has 
been a kindly father to all his people, and that to all alike, 
from the highest in the land to the poor slave, long trodden 
under foot, he had proved himself so good a brother and 
friend. We pray not for vengeance, but for justice. Make 
bare Thine own arm and do the work that must now be done. 
Leave us not until every vestige of the accursed thing that 
has wrought us this fearful wrong be done away. God ! 
Thou hast Thy martyr for Thy cause; assert that cause until 
slavery be rooted out from all the borders of our land. We 
pray for the affiicted family of our beloved President. Com- 
fort them in their sore affliction; lift up the light of Thy 
countenance upon them and give them peace. And we pray 
for Thy gracious favor to be bestowed on him, who, in Thy 
providence is raised up to rule over this land. Come Thou to 
him in wisdom and strength. Give him courage and dis- 
cretion. Make his staff strong, and let the spirit that was in 
him who is taken away, fall upon him. We pray for Thy 
servant, now lying stricken by the hand of the assassin. 
Bring him up again from the jaws of death and suffer us not 
to lose the advantage of his wisdom, and patriotism, and zeal 
for our country's good. We bend our heads before Thee that 
Thy consolations may come down upon us. Here, in the 
presence of the memory of Thy faithful servant, we pledge 
ourselves anew to Thy service. Hold us up, until the great 



9 

ends ot Thy providence be fulfilled, until all the wrong that 
has cursed our land be righted, and the iniquity of our fathers 
be done away. May none of us hesitate or falter, until Thy 
work is done, and until thine own peace return and rest 
upon us. I 

The following Preamble and Eesolutions were then read by 
Horace Binney, Jr., Esq. : 

An awful event has stricken and shocked the hearts of the 
members of the Union League of Philadelphia, and of every 
true friend to his country. Abraham Lincoln, the twice chosen 
President of the United States; the unselfish and devoted 
patriot ; the friend of all men; "who never willingly planted 
a thorn in any man's breast;" while the first rays of the clear 
sunshine of a consummate victory for the Union were still 
lighting up his countenance, sitting without a personal guard, 
which he always rejected, and without a suspicion, which his 
heart never harbored ; in the presence of his wife and family; 
and surrounded by friends and smiles to partake of a public 
recreation, for the gratification of a happy community, has 
been shot to death by the pistol of a dastardly miscreant, con- 
spirator and assassin. 

No personal hostility could have prompted the execrable 
deed. There never was a man, public or private, who gave 
less occasion for personal rancor against him. No one ever 
imputed a fault to him as a public man, but the benignity of 
his heart, which could hardly come up to the demands of vin- 
dictive public justice without pain and reluctance. Personally 
he could not have been an object of malice. But he personated 
and represented the Union and its loyal people. The assassin 
represented the spirit of rebellion, and the great conspiracy 
against the Union and the Government bequeathed to us by 
our fathers, and vouchsafed to them by the beneficence of 
heaven; and what secession could not achieve against our 
arms ; the infernal malice of the representative assassin has 
achieved upon the superintending and sustaining head of the 
Nation. 

It is a blessed memory which survives and will ever survive 
with the name of this noble and courageous President, that 



10 

while lie contemplated even this cruel result to himself, he 
never sufiered the fear of it to disturb him in the onward 
march of his duty. 

Hear his own words in his first Presidential message : 

" As a private citizen the Executive could not have con- 
sented that these institutions shall perish, much less could he 
in betrayal of so vast and so sacred a trust as these free peo- 
ple had confided to him. He felt that he had no moral right 
to shrink, nor even to count the chances of his own life, in 
what might follow." 

His last inaugural, on the fourth of March, is a sublime 
manifestation of the righteousness of his moral and political 
faith which even England acknowledges and respects, and 
which posterity in this land will never suffer to die. 

Never has any event so maddened and then melted the 
heart of an entire people. The first impulse of every honest 
heart, was to cry out for the lightning and thunderbolt to 
smite the wretch to the earth, to consume him to ashes, and 
to scatter his ashes to the winds as unworthy of the earth. 
The next and better impulse has been to listen to, and obey 
the voice from above, ''Vengeance is Mine, I will repay." 

Never has any man, public or private, been so wept and 
deplored. Never has universal rage been so instantly suc- 
ceeded by universal tears. The whole people are in tears in 
the presence of victory, the uplifting of the flag of honor and 
restoration on the walls of Fort Sumpter, and even on the 
Resurrection day of our Lord and Saviour, the Prince of Vic- 
tory and Peace. 

Honoring the noble character, the pure principles and the 
political services of President Lincoln, as the Union League 
of Philadelphia has always done, we relieve our own hearts, 
and add their testimony to the tribute of the whole people by 
adopting the following resolutions : 

Resolved, That we honor the name of Abraham Lincoln, 
our twice elected President, and will ever honor it, as that of 
a most pure and unselfish patriot, and as a wise-hearted and 
sagacious leader and administrator of the country, which 
from a beginning that lay in weakness and unpreparedness for 
the crisis then upon it, with nothing but his firm heart and 



11 

good purpose under God to rely upon, has been l.rouglit by 
the spirit and power of liis Administration to a position of 
preparation and strength, from which it may now look with 
confidence over the entire domain of the nation, as soon to be 
reclaimed to Union, universal Freedom and Concord. 

Resolved, That we loathe with our whole hearts the pistol 
and dagger of the assassin, and with scarcely less abhorrence 
the lash'of the slave-driver and the starvation of imprisoned 
soldiers ; and that we should witness with joy and hope such 
manifestations of sympathy in the South, in detesting and 
denouncing this execrable crime against humanity and 
ao-ainst heaven, as will become the omen and precursor of 
our fraternal concord in all things, and of the redemption of 
the old Union from the sin of treason and secession, to order, 
law, freedom and peace. 

Resolved, That no change in the head of this nation by 
assassination, nor any other event, will shake the Union 
League of Philadelphia from the firm purpose for which it was 
instrtuted, the devotion of life, honor and estate to the defence 
of the Union against all assaults, and to secure its transmis- 
sion to our posterity, as our fathers transmitted it to us, 
without one star extinguished or dimmed, or one bar of its 
stripes effaced. 

Resolved, That we hereby pledge ourselves to Andrew 
Johnson, who in the Providence of God, is now placed mthe 
chair of the lamented Lincoln, as President of the United 
States, to sustain him by all our efforts in the same principles 
and purposes, which his predecessor has now sealed, as a 
martyr, with his blood. 

Resolved, That we call upon our fellow-citizens throughout 
the land to join with us in reverently invoking for President 
Johnson, in the performance of the high duties of his office, 
the protection and support of Almighty God, in whom he has 
publicly declared his trust, and for our President, our country 
and ourselves we desire to adopt the closing words of the first 
message of him whose mantle, we trust has now fallen upon 
his successor: ''Having thus chosen our cause without guile, 
let us renew our trust in God, and go forward without fear 
and with manly hearts." 



12 

liesolvcd, That we have received with the incst unqualified 
satisfaction the information that it is the purpose of President 
Johnson to retain in his own Cabinet the able and faithful 
Secretaries of Department, whose selection by the sagacity of 
President Lincoln has been so well vindicated by their suc- 
cessful performance of the arduous duties of their public 
trusts. 

Hesolved, That the Union League of Philadelphia hereby 
tender to the Honorable William H. Seward, Secretary of 
State, their most earnest and profound sympathy under the 
unparalleled and cruel outrages inflicted upon him and upon the 
members of his household; and that we pray Almighty God 
that he may yet survive, surrounded by an unbroken family, 
to resume the arduous duties of the post in which he has been 
retained, and to witness the perfect realization of the measures 
begun under his late friend and head, for the restoration of 
the peace and happiness of the nation and for the maintenance 
of all its rights, both abroad and at home. 

Resolved, That a committee of thirteen be appointed whose 
duty it shall be to transmit a copy of this Preamble and Pveso- 
lutions, under the signature of the President and Secretary, 
and under the seal of the Union League of Philadelphia, to 
his excellency, Andrew Johnson, President of the United 
States, and to the Heads of the Departments of the Govern- 
ment, and another copy to the widow and children of the late 
President, with the assurance of our most heartfelt sympathy 
and condolence with them in their overwhelming affliction. 

The resolutions were seconded by Mr. Charles Gibbons, who 
said : 

" Treason has done its worst! nor steel, nor poison, 
Nor malice domestic, foreign levy — nothing 
Can touch him further." 

Slavery has done its worst ! Its hatred of all that is just 
and pure, its malevolence, its brutality, its violence, its heart- 
lessness, its treachery, its defiance of every law, human and 
Divine, are all embodied in that miserable assassin who mur- 
dered our good President as he sat, in supposed security, in 
the capital of our country, by the side of his wife. They are 



embodied too in that twin representative who entered a pri- 
vate house at midnight, on a pretended mission of mercy, 
rushed to the bedside of a sleeping, helpless and almost dying 
man, plunged his dagger into his throat, and struck down his 
sons who were watching by his side. 

These were not the deeds of two individuals, but represen- 
tative acts, committed by the right hand and left hand of 
slavery, which illustrate and typify its soul and its spirit ; 
one and the same spirit which gathered and ruled those 
secret societies in the North and in the South, where the 
rebellion was hatched. One and the same spirit that intro- 
duced murderous weapons into the halls of Congress, and 
swaggered, and hectored, and threatened whenever its in- 
fluence was bafHed. 

One and the same spirit that struck a United States Sena- 
tor from his seat by a murderous blow, without warning or 
provocation, because he would not worship it. 

One and the same spirit that organized a band of murderers 
to take the life of Abraham Lincoln, while on his way to the 
seat of Government, to assume the duties of the Presidential 
office, to which the American people had called him. 

One and the same spirit that has ''poured the sweet milk 
of concord into hell," and marks its supremacy everywhere 
with human blood. 

One and the same spirit that burned the flesh from the 
bones of our gallant dead, and fashioned them into trinkets 
for the necks of its Jezebels. 

One and the same spirit that entered the hotels of a neigh- 
boring city in the garb of peace, and sought to envelope 
women and children in the flames which it secretly kindled. 

One and the same spirit that massacred our troops at Fort 
Pillow, after they had surrendered as prisoners of war. 

One and the same spirit that starved thousands of our sol- 
diers to death in the prison pens of Georgia and Carolina, 
where they were crowded — with no covering but the sky, or 
the storm clouds that burst over them. 

One and the same spirit that mined the Libby building 
when filled with patriots captured in war, and stood with 



14 

lighted torch to blow them to eternity, on the entry of our 
victorious troops into the rebel capitol. 

It is a spirit that never looks up to Heaven for what is just, 
but looks ever in the dust lor some worm to tread upon, or 
some living creature to torture. 

It is the spirit that excludes the brave and faithful soldier 
of the Republic from a Philadelphia railway car if the Creator 
has colored his complexion too much, but surrenders its seat 
to the white traitor, who claps his hands with joy over the 
murdered body of our President. 

It is the spirit that exults in the deed of the assassin, and 
hides itself from popular indignation behind the black weeds 
of sorrow. 

What does the law demand for this foul murder of our 
honored President — a President of whom it tnust be said that, 
of those becoming graces — 

" As justice, verity, temperance, stableness, 
Bounty, perseverance, mercy, lowliness, 
Devotion, patience, courage, fortitude. 
He relished all !" 

He relished all — slavery hated all, and therefore slavery 
murdered him ! The law is offended ; what will satisfy it ? 
It asks no more than the death of that one miserable man, 
the mere instrument of the murder. But will that satisfy this 
mourning nation ? No ! Surely no ! What then would 
your stricken hearts demand ! What can satisfy them but 
the everlasting death of slavery itself, the head and front, the 
life and soul of treason, rebellion and all their attendant 
crimes ? What should we pray for — what can we pray for, 
but that justice may sweep the land like a whirlwind, leaving 
behind it no traces of that foul spirit, which has brought this 
deep sorrow and humiliation upon the nation, but only that 
blessed and glorious liberty which will satisfy the ordinances 
of God ? Should this be the result of the murder of Abraham 
Lincoln, and we could hear his voice once more, it would 
come ringing to us from the courts of Heaven in hallelujahs 
for the nation's victory over the powers of hell ! 

The time is coming ! Andrew Johnson is in the seat of 
power. He has walked the pavements of slavery, and sat in 



15 

its towers. He knows the spirit with which he has to deah 
In the Senate it flattered him, and tempted him, and threat- 
ened him ; but in vain ! 

" Among the faithless, faithful only he ; 
Among innumerable false, unmoved, 
Unshaken, unseduced, unterrified, 
His loyalty he kept — his love, his zeal ; 
Nor number nor example with him wrought 
To swerve from truth or change his constant mind, 
Though single. From amidst them forth he passM, 
Long way through hostile scorn, which he sustained 
Superior, nor of violence fear'd aught ; 
And with retorted scorn, his back he turn'd 
On those proud towers, to swift destruction doom'd." 

He does not stand alone. He has accepted as his aids the 
constitutional advisers of President Lincoln. Stanton is with 
him ; that fearless patriot whose name shall ever be honored 
in the history of a country he has served so well ; that friend 
of liberty who has never quailed before its enemies or faltered 
in his devotion to its cause. Grant is with him. Sheeman 
is with him. The noble Army of the Eepublic is with him ; 
the PEOPLE are with him ; and above all, He to whom all 
vengeance belongs, the Lord God Omnipotent, is with Jiim, 
and with us ! 

The Preamble and Resolutions were unanimously adopted 
by the meeting. After which Mr. Frederick Fraley addressed 
the meeting, as follows : 

I feel a great weight of responsibility in attempting to ad- 
dress this meeting. 

The solemn occasion that has brought us together; the 
deep sense of the great national calamity ; the sorrow for a 
martyred and honored Chief Magistrate, and the grave con- 
sequences that must follow such events present topics for our 
mournful as well as patriotic consideration. 

Your eloquent opening, Mr. Chairman, of these proceed- 
ings, and the sentiments you have uttered with so much 
propriety and feeling ; the fervent prayer, and earnest and 
truthful speech of the gentlemen who have followed you, 
would seem to be all that our heads could ask or our hearts de- 
sire for the realization of sorrow or the calls of duty. 



16 

And yet, with a deep sense of my own inability to add 
much, if anything, to the solemnity or instruction of this oc- 
casion ; I comply with the wish of the Committee, and will 
state briefly the impressions that this mysterious dispensation 
of Providence has made on me. 

In common with the whole loyal country, I have been re- 
joicing in our recent national triumphs, and have believed 
that the war was practically at an end ; the reign of union 
and peace inaugurated, and the country redeemed and purified 
by the blood and treasure expended in our struggle for law 
and freedom. 

I supposed that the kind-hearted and honorable man who 
occupied the chief place in the Kepublic, and had given such 
assurance to the people of the South, of liberal, just, and merci- 
ful treatment for past offences, would be permitted to welcome 
back the returning prodigals ; and that as they had repented 
of their great sin, and were returning to the home of their 
fathers, wo could put on them the golden ring of Union, and 
prepare the feast of National and fraternal rejoicing. 

But, alas ! alas ! it has been otherwise ordered ; and in the 
hour of our hope and of our rejoicing, the black hand of death, 
not of defeat, has been put forward, and we are stayed by the 
arm of God from carrying our own purposes into elfect ; Ijut, 

" His purposes are i-ipening fast, 

Unfolding every hour; 
The hud may have a bitter taste, 

But sweet will be the flower." 

I have sought to read for myself and for my country, a 
lesson in the deep darkness of this dispensation. 

It has impressed me with a new and intense feeling of our 
duties as citizens of a great and free nation ; and I feel it as 
an awakening call, to a closer and more intelligent study of 
the genius and principles of our form of government, so that 
each man that is called on to think, and vote, and act, on the 
matters of common weal, will not bo a blind servant of party, 
but a pure, enlightened, and patriotic supporter of the right. 

By our lamentable departures from the principles of our 
National fathers ; by our restricting rather than enlarging 
the area of freedom ; by our neglect of the rights of the poor 



17 

and the oiDpressecl ; the degradation of the bondman, and an 
inordinate appetite for wealth and power; we have sadly- 
marred the heritage they left to us, and now have as sadly- 
suffered the j)enalty for our sinning. 

They left us a flag whose folds were darkened by a shadow, 
gradually fading away when they passed it into our hands. 
By the passage of the Act of Congress prohibiting the slave 
trade after the year 1808, they proclaimed that a power had 
risen which was to dispel that shadow ; but we failed to fol- 
low in their footsteps ; we bowed down to slavery rather than 
to extirpate it ; to consider it a blessing rather than a curse, 
and verily we have had our reward. 

Degraded by its existence in our own eyes, and dishonored on 
account of it in almost all lands, we yet clung to it in the 
mistaken hope that thereby we should preserve the Union. 

"We gave it compromise on compromise, for the sake of 
National peace, and sad as the confession may be, we did great 
evil in the hope that God would wink at it and deem it good. 

But, at last, as if wearied with our sin and blindness. He 
compelled us to put our hands to the plough, and we have 
been laboring in many deep and long furrows without as yet 
being able to discern the end of our work. In my judgment 
we have fallen far short of duty to ourselves and duty to the 
country. 

In this hard struggle for national life, for freedom, for law, 
we have forgotten that there is a power as potent for victory 
as the sword. That power is public opinion, it is the search- 
ing influence of social intercourse. 

We have failed to use this power ; we have relied too much 
on the sword, and too little on that which reaches the heart 
and the hearthstone, and makes a traitor or a traitorous sym- 
pathizer feel that there is a punishment worse, infinitely, than 
death itself. 

To walk the streets as a marked traitor, to be pointed at 
as a disloyal man, to be shut out from homes and hearts that 
of old warmed, as it were, into new life when he approached 
them, these are the sorest and bitterest punishments for trea- 
son that can be administered. 

We have hitherto failed to use them as we should, but the 



18 

tiniG has now come when they are called for by every impulse 
of honor and patriotism. Let us not falter in their appli- 
cation ; let us not by any mawkish sensibilities permit dis- 
loyal men to think that their departures from duty are soft- 
ened down as amiable weaknesses and Christian charity, 
but let them be marked as with the mark of Cain, if they 
persist in staying among us, and be accounted as vagabonds 
and fugitives ; or what will be still better, let us compel them 
to join themselves body and soul to their idols and masters, 
and finally to share with them the perils as well as the plea- 
sures of rebellion and treason. 

Our noble Army, God bless them ! Our gallant Navy, God 
bless them too ! have successfully vindicated on the land and 
on the water the honor of the Nation, and the strength and 
valor of those armed in a righteous cause. They and we have 
labored, not to impose shackles and burthens on the people 
of the South ; not even at first to alter one jot or tittle of 
their peculiar State institutions and policy. From the first 
we have said to them submit to the law and be safe ; sub- 
mit to the law laid down by our fathers; submit to that 
which has so long been a pillar of cloud to us by day and a 
pillar of fire by night ; submit to the bonds of the Union and 
the Constitution. 

But they would not listen, the dark and wicked spirits of 
secession, slavery and State rights, have seized upon them ; 
and for these miserable and lying demons, they sacrificed all 
that is glorious in the past, all that was hopeful for the 
future. 

If by such malice, wickedness and folly, war desolates their 
fields and makes blood-marks in their families, who shall pity 
them ? 

But, my friends, I think that war has almost done its 
work, and the time has come for law to step in and do its 
more appropriate duty. 

The traitor is unworthy of a soldier's death; there must 
be an end of the allowance of belligerent rights ; the court 
and the jury, the public trial, the solemn hall of justice, the 
verdict, the judgment, and the halter, must now do their 
loork, and thus an end be put to this great rebellion. 



19 

Public opinion, social ostracism and the law, will be found 
sufficient for the vindication of the right, and there is no need 
to set on foot the rule of the mob, or the torch of the incen- 
diary. 

When treason and sympathy with treason are treated with 
honesty to ourselves, with faith in our good cause, and with 
fidelity to our obligations as men, we shall emerge from the 
gloom and fear which so often have made us falter, and God 
will, indeed, be with us, and crown our labors with his 
blessing. 

Members of the Union League, you have done much al- 
ready for the preservation of the Nation, but your work is 
not yet finished. The awful crime that has brought us together 
had its origin in a depraved and dishonest political and social 
system. It was not so much the work of a single criminal as 
of a host of off'enders ; blinded, ignorant offenders, as many no 
doubt are, but of other offenders whose lives for the past 
thirty years have been preparing their heads, hearts and 
hands for the work of iniquity. By the force of circumstances 
not fully foreseen or appreciated when the League was or- 
ganized, we have had to take a more active interest in poli- 
tics than any one anticipated, but we are now called on to 
do much more. 

Questions of the most grave importance must now be set- 
tled, probably forever. 

The great future of an emancipated race already numbering 
four millions, is one of these questions. Shall they be men ; 
be clothed with the rights and duties of freemen ; or shall 
they be returned to a worse slavery than that from which we 
have freed them ? Shall they be our political equals, if so, 
when and how shall this be accomplished ? Shall our old 
notions about race and color shut our eyes to the manifest 
march of the times, or shall we accept and solve the problem 
with truth and reason ? When I say that we have much of 
this work in our hands, I state only an accepted fact. 

Our great State has always been a battlefield for extreme 
political opinions, and at all times its vote has for every 
Presidential term fixed the destiny of the nation. 

As it has been in the past so it will be in the future ; as 



20 

our public virtue has raised the scale of public morals, so have 
our public faults and ignorance made their mark for evil. 

While I feel the great blow which has been struck at the 
Kepublic through its Chief Magistrate, I do not despair ; the 
great crime has made a terrible awakening ; it has reached 
the deepest depths of the national heart, and from high and 
low, rich and poor, there comes to us but one cry. Is it the 
cry of vengeance ? No, my friends, it is not vengeance but 
justice ; it is the cry to mete out to the real authors of the 
foul deed, the leaders of the. rebellion their just punishment. 
That punishment properly and promptly inflicted, will be 
mercy to ourselves, will save many from death and suffering, 
and be acknowledged by the world as most righteously in- 
flicted. 

I will not attempt to add to the eulogies already paid to 
Abraham Lincoln, he deserved them all ; they are the ap- 
propriate tribute of this hour, when the great work he liad 
done is fresh in our remembrance ; when the still greater 
work he had yet to do is rising before us. Shall it be treated, 
as it seemed to be his purpose to treat it, with that simplicity, 
honesty, mercy and long suffering he had so long and so faith- 
fully practiced, or shall it be treated with stern, unrelenting 
justice. The very breath that was giving utterance to for- 
giveness, to charity, to brotherly kindness, was checked in its 
course by the hand of the assassin ; the foul deed causing a 
nation to mourn for the removal of so much that was good ; 
1)ut may we not rejoice that the hands of the conspirators 
were stayed in the midst of the bloody work, and that we still 
have preserved to us the rulers duly chosen to perpetuate 
the Government, and pledged to protect and defend it. 

The death of Abraham Lincoln has made a solemn and 
peculiar impression on me. I have reverently wondered what 
so signal a dispensation of Providence can mean ; it has filled 
my inner thoughts and awakened feelings in harmony with 
those of the solemn season that has just closed. The words 
"It was expedient that one man should die for the people" 
have been ringing in my ears ever since I heard of the death 
of the President. 



21 

These words, I speak it in fear and trembling, lest I should 
err, have filled my heart with a glorious hope for the future ; 
they seem to say to me the blood that has thus been shed 
shall be a passover for this nation. It shall cleanse us from 
all malice, from all strife, from all hatred, from all self-suffi- 
ciency ; it shall teach us to be just as well as merciful ; it 
shall make our country a glorious kingdom for the manifesta- 
tion of those sublime teachings of obedience to law, of charity 
and peace, and good-will to men, which were given to the 
world by Him who died on Calvary. It will make our land 
the land of virtue and freedom ; the guiding and ruling star 
of the whole earth ! 

Mr. John C. Knox, then addressed the meeting in the fol- 
lowing remarks : 

I am here to-day, Mr. President, to unite with my fellow- 
members of the Union League, in the solemnities due to this 
mournful occasion. 

A great nation mourns the loss of its Chief Magistrate. 
The good men of that nation mourn as well the loss of the 
man Abraham Lincoln. 

The heart of the nation was glad. Rejoicing in the as- 
surance that its own existence was safe, the American E,e- 
public is appalled by the announcement that its chosen head 
no longer lives. The country, thank God, is safe, but one of 
the noblest of its sons is gone forever. 

The same spirit which attempted the destruction of the 
Government, caused the assassination of the President. Abra- 
ham Lincoln was assassinated because he was in favor of the 
unity of this Republic, and because he successfully resisted 
the attempt to establish here a government whose chief ob- 
ject should be the perpetuation of human slavery. 

His devotion to human freedom was at the cost of his life. 
But his blood has not been shed in vain. The same murder- 
ous bullet which sent his pure spirit to its God, sealed forever 
and forever, the fate of African slavery in this our beloved 
country. For it there will be neither conditions, terms nor 
compromises, neither time nor resurrection. It must and will 
be blotted out at once and forever, and to be remembered 



•)9 



only to be denounced as the favorite institution of the great 
enemy of mankind, the arch fiend himself. 

I know how unnecessary it is for me to speak the praises 
of our martyred chief. He was an honest, true and pure man. 
He understood and loved the American people, and the 
American people knew and loved him. Day by day, was the 
feeling in his favor strengthened and increased, thereby 
lessening the number of his political opponents, and giving to 
the people as a body, confidence in his wisdom to devise, his 
ability to execute, and his determination to carry out such 
measures as would promote the greatest good of the greatest 
number. 

Originally elected to the Presidency by a plurality of the 
popular vote; having to conduct the executive department 
during the most trying period that the country ever wit- 
nessed, he so bore himself in his high office that he was 
again chosen by the largest numerical majority ever given to 
a candidate for the Presidency, whose election was contested. 

But alas ! this great and good man is gone. His name, 
however, will be a household word with the American people, 
and his fame will be as dear to future ages as that of the 
father of his country, our beloved Washington. 

May our Heavenly Father protect and preserve the suc- 
cessor of Abraham Lincoln, and may Andrew Johnson in the 
future be as dear to the hearts of American citizens as the 
man whose untimely end we this day meet to deplore. 

On motion of Mr. John H. Towne, it was 

Hesolved, That the Board of Directors be requested to de- 
vise some proper badge of mourning to be worn by members 
of the League and their families for the next thirty days. 

On motion of Mr. Wm. D. Lewis, the meeting adjourned. 

George H. Boker, 

Secretary. 



OFFICERS 'f 

OF THK 'JP' 

UNION LEAGlltl OF PHILADELPHIA. 



ItresidenU 

J. GILLINGHAM FELL. 

WILLIAM H. ASHHitRST, ABOLPH E. BORIE. 
HORACE BINNEY, JR., MORTON McMICHAEL. 

Director*. 

J. I. Clark Hare, Lindley Smyth, 

James L. Claghorn, Daniel Smith, Jr., 

Charles Gibbons, Nathaniel B. Browne, 

George H. Boker, William Sellers, 

Joseph B. Townsend, Henry Charles Lea, 

George Whitney, Ellerslie Wallace, M.D., 

John B. Kenney, James H. Orne, 
Cadwalader Biddle. 

Tr€a»urer. 

JAMES L. CLAGHORN. 

Secretary, 

GEORGE H. BOKER. 



I 



